NCTE Board Member, Marisa Richmond, and NCTE Policy Counsel, Harper Jean Tobin, were among the 300+ LGBT local and statewide leaders who joined President Obama and Vice President Biden for the Pride Month reception on Wednesday, July 29, 2011. Richmond was also among a few invited to meet President Obama before he delivered his speech. Richmond told NCTE:

It was a real honor and privilege to attend the reception, especially since I was the only transgender person who was given personal time to meet the President. I was lucky to express the appreciation of the transgender community for all that he has done to extend the rights of transgender persons across this country.

Like President Obama’s speech in New York City, he strongly advocated for the end of discrimination against everybody, including transgender people:

You’re Americans who want this country to prosper. So those are your fights, too. And the fact is these are hard days for America. So we’ve got a lot of work to do to, not only on ending discrimination; we’ve got a lot of work to do to live up to the ideals on which we were founded, and to preserve the American Dream in our time -– for everybody, whether they’re gay or straight or lesbian or transgender.